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万本电子书0元读

Hidden Sin: Part 1 of 3: When the past comes back to haunt you
Hidden Sin: Part 1 of 3: When the past comes back to haunt you
Julie Shaw
¥28.45
The explosive sequel to #1 Sunday Times bestseller Bad Blood. Set 18 years later, Hidden Sin is the story of Joey, his girlfriend Paula and Rasta Mo, the man he is to discover is his dad. Joey Parker is a young man with big dreams. Almost eighteen, he’s desperate to escape the shackles of his window cleaning round, so when’s offered the chance to try out as a drummer in a local Blondie tribute band he jumps at the chance. But it isn’t just the music that moves him. It’s also the fact that Paula Foster is the lead singer. The daughter of his mum’s old mate, Josie, she was once a childhood friend. They’ve not seen each other in years, and their mutual attraction is immediate. Meanwhile, notorious local drug overlord, Rasta Mo, has recently returned to Bradford after a spell inside and years in Marbella. He is instantly enamored with the good-looking drummer he discovers is his son. He decides that his new club is in need of a house band – and so begins his attempts to woo him. This book charts a journey between two men into a future neither visualized. And, in Joey’s case, into a dangerous criminal world he’s never known. And, while his mother and step-father can only look on in horror as Joey potentially becomes the one thing she’s always dreaded – his father’s son. Joey is oblivious to who Mo is. The truth has always been hidden from him. All he cares about is that his and Paula’s dreams are all starting to come true. But will the cost of achieving them be too high to pay?
Trafficked Girl: Abused. Abandoned. Exploited. This Is My Story of Fighting Back
Trafficked Girl: Abused. Abandoned. Exploited. This Is My Story of Fighting Back
Zoe Patterson,Jane Smith
¥58.86
When Zoe was taken into care at the age of 13, she thought she was finally going to escape from the cruel abuse she had suffered throughout her childhood. Then social services placed her in a residential unit known to be 'a target for prostitution', and suddenly Zoe's life was worse than it had ever been before. Abused and ostracized by her mother, humiliated by her father’s sexual innuendos, physically assaulted and bullied by her eldest brother, even as a young child Zoe thought she deserved the desperately unhappy life she was living. ‘I’ve sharpened a knife for you,’ her mother told her the first time she noticed angry red wounds on her daughter’s arms. And when Zoe didn’t kill herself, her mother gave her whisky, which she drank in the hope that it would dull the miserable, aching loneliness of her life. One day at school Zoe showed her teacher the livid bruises that were the result of her mother’s latest physical assault and within days she was taken into care. Zoe had been at Denver House for just three weeks when an older girl asked if she’d like to go to a party, then took her to a house where there were just three men. Zoe was a virgin until that night, when two of the men raped her. Having returned to the residential unit in the early hours of the morning, when she told a member of staff what had happened to her, her social worker made a joke about it, then took her to get the morning-after pill. For Zoe, the indifference of the staff at the residential unit seemed like further confirmation of what her mother had always told her – she was worthless. Before long, she realised that the only way to survive in the unit was to go to the ‘parties’ the older girls were paid to take her to, drink the drinks, smoke the cannabis and try to blank out what was done to her when she was abused, controlled and trafficked around the country. No action was taken by the unit's staff or social workers when Zoe asked for their help, and without anyone to support or protect her, the horrific abuse continued for the next few years, even after she left the unit. But in her heart Zoe was always a fighter. This is the harrowing, yet uplifting story, of how she finally broke free of the abuse and neglect that destroyed her childhood and obtained justice for her years of suffering.
Birds Art Life Death: The Art of Noticing the Small and Significant
Birds Art Life Death: The Art of Noticing the Small and Significant
Kyo Maclear
¥66.22
‘Now when I hear birdsong, I feel an entry to that understory. When I am feeling too squeezed on the ground, exhausted by everything in my care, I look for a little sky. There are always birds flying back and forth, city birds flitting around our human edges, singing their songs.’ One winter, Kyo Maclear became unmoored. Her father had recently fallen ill and she suddenly found herself lost for words. As a writer, she could no longer bring herself to create; her work wasn’t providing the comfort and meaning that it had before. But then Kyo met a musician who loved birds. The musician felt he could not always cope with the pressures and disappointments of being an artist in a big city. When he watched birds and began to photograph them, his worries dissipated. Intrigued, Kyo found herself following the musician for a year, accompanying him on his birdwatching expeditions; the sounds of birds in the city reminded them both to look outwards at the world. Intricate and delicate as birdsong, Birds Art Life Death asks how our passions shape and nurture us, and how we might gain perspective, overcome our anxieties and begin to cherish the urban wild spaces where so many of us live.
Dead Now Of Course
Dead Now Of Course
Phyllida Law
¥95.75
‘My future mother-in-law burst into tears when she heard her son was to marry an actress. There’s still something disturbing, I grant you, about the word “actress”. If an MP or some other outstanding person plays fast and loose with an actress the world is unsurprised. She is certainly no better than she should be, and probably French…’ As well as being a mother (to the actresses Sophie and Emma Thompson) and a devoted carer to her own mother and mother-in-law, Phyllida Law is also a distinguished actress, and Dead Now Of Course is the tale of her early acting career. As a young member of a travelling company, Phyllida learned to cope with whatever was thrown at her, from making her own false eyelashes to battling flammable costumes and rogue cockroaches. We find her in Mrs Miller’s digs, which were shared with a boozy monkey bought from Harrods, an Afghan hound known as the ‘the flying duster’, several hens and various children. Filled with funny, charming anecdotes, Dead Now Of Course paints a fascinating picture of life in the theatre – and at the heart of the story is an enchanting account of Phyllida’s courtship with her future husband, the actor and writer Eric Thompson.
Nobody’s Son: Part 2 of 3: All Alex ever wanted was a family of his own
Nobody’s Son: Part 2 of 3: All Alex ever wanted was a family of his own
Cathy Glass
¥20.60
Born in a prison and removed from his drug-dependent mother, rejection is all that 7-year-old Alex knows. When Cathy is asked to foster little Alex, aged 7, her immediate reaction is: Why can’t he stay with his present carers for the last month? He’s already had many moves since coming into care as a toddler and he’ll only be with her a short while before he goes to live with his permanent adoptive family. But the present carers are expecting a baby and the foster mother isn’t coping, so Alex goes to live with Cathy. He settles easily and is very much looking forward to having a forever family of his own. The introductions and move to his adoptive family go well. But Alex is only with them for a week when problems begin. What happens next is both shocking and upsetting, and calls into question the whole adoption process.
Part 1 of 3: The true story of a lonely little girl abused by those she trusted
Part 1 of 3: The true story of a lonely little girl abused by those she trusted
Taylor Edison,Jane Smith
¥25.60
The moving true story of a little girl with Asperger syndrome, controlled and abused by the one person she called her friend. Taylor had always struggled to make friends – she felt ‘different’. Taylor never knew her father and her mother wasn’t around much. She just didn’t understand people, and was alone and scared much of the time. That was until, aged just 11, an older married man called Tom befriended her. She loved having someone who would talk to her, listen to her, a protector. But when he moved away a few months later she was easy prey to the gang of drug dealers and petty criminals who groomed and abused her, using her as a form of currency to appease their debtors and amuse their friends. Increasingly isolated and desperate, it began to look as though the pattern of Taylor's life had been set – until she started to fight back, determined to build a safe future for herself, however long it took.
Cruel to Be Kind: Part 1 of 3: Saying no can save a child’s life
Cruel to Be Kind: Part 1 of 3: Saying no can save a child’s life
Cathy Glass
¥28.45
Cruel To Be Kind is the true story of Max, aged 6. He is fostered by Cathy while his mother is in hospital with complications from type 2 diabetes. Cruel To Be Kind is the true story of Max, aged 6. He is fostered by Cathy while his mother is in hospital with complications from type 2 diabetes. Fostering Max gets off to a bad start when his mother, Caz, complains and threatens Cathy even before Max has moved in. Cathy and her family are shocked when they first meet Max. But his social worker isn’t the only one in denial; his whole family are too.
Cruel to Be Kind: Part 3 of 3: Saying no can save a child’s life
Cruel to Be Kind: Part 3 of 3: Saying no can save a child’s life
Cathy Glass
¥23.45
Cruel To Be Kind is the true story of Max, aged 6. He is fostered by Cathy while his mother is in hospital with complications from type 2 diabetes. Cruel To Be Kind is the true story of Max, aged 6. He is fostered by Cathy while his mother is in hospital with complications from type 2 diabetes. Fostering Max gets off to a bad start when his mother, Caz, complains and threatens Cathy even before Max has moved in. Cathy and her family are shocked when they first meet Max. But his social worker isn’t the only one in denial; his whole family are too.
The Mighty Franks: A Memoir
The Mighty Franks: A Memoir
Michael Frank
¥73.58
A TELEGRAPH BOOK OF THE YEAR A NEW STATESMAN BOOK OF THE YEAR A story at once extremely strange and entirely familiar – about families, innocence, art and love. This hugely enjoyable, totally unforgettable memoir is a classic in the making. ‘My aunt called our two families the Mighty Franks. But, she said, you and I, Lovey, are a thing apart. The two of us have pulled our wagons up to a secret campsite. We know how lucky we are. We’re the most fortunate people in the world to have found each other, isn’t it so?’ Michael Frank’s upbringing was unusual to say the least. His aunt was his father’s sister and his uncle his mother’s brother. The two couples lived blocks apart in the hills of LA, with both grandmothers in an apartment together nearby. Most unusual of all was his aunt, ‘Hankie’: a beauty with violet eyelids and leaves fastened in her hair, a woman who thought that conformity was death, a Hollywood screenwriter spinning seductive fantasies. With no children of her own, Hankie took a particular shine to Michael, taking him on Antiquing excursions, telling him about ‘the very last drop of her innermost self’, holding him in her orbit in unpredictable ways. This love complicated the delicate balance of the wider family and changed Michael’s life forever.
Are you talking to me?: A Life Through the Movies
Are you talking to me?: A Life Through the Movies
John Walsh
¥68.57
A combination of wit and heartbreak in a memoir of a life intertwined with an obsession with film. A Fever Pitch for cinema lovers. 'This book will consider the influence of movies on one life, the interaction of celluloid fantasy and the growth of a personality. It's not just a film buff's record of his enthusiasm's. It's about how some films do, weirdly, change your life.' Beginning with his first cinema outing, The Mutiny on the Bounty, and tracing his passion through his growing up years to adulthood, Walsh will weave together his own life experiences with his rapturous dependence on key moments in film. He will write a funny, personal, loving account of the magic and drama of the silver screen and its ultimate, all-encompassing power to become larger than (real) life.
Braver Men Walk Away
Braver Men Walk Away
Peter Gurney
¥76.22
First published in 1993 and now available as an ebook. The bestselling story of one man’s fight against terrorism. Extraordinary courage, steely professionalism and ruthless determination are vital for the bomb-disposal man who risks his life daily to save others. Peter Gurney MBE, GM & Bar is such a man. In this compelling account of a career on the front line of the fight against crime and international terrorism, he tells how: ? he defuzed the mortar bomb used in the attack on Downing Street ? discovered the body of his best friend after the Wimpy Bar explosion and then went on to defuze a second device ? was moved to tears by the horror of the Harrods bombing ? advised many foreign governments on anti-terrorism, and was an expert witness in the Lockerbie case. Braver Men Walk Away is a fascinating and unique chronicle of an astonishing career, told with the typical humour and modesty of a reluctant hero.
The Eddie Stobart Story
The Eddie Stobart Story
Hunter Davies
¥76.22
The world’s greatest haulier – a rags-to-riches tale of British entrepreneurialsim. If you’ve never seen an Eddie Stobart truck, you’ve never driven down a British motorway. This is the extraordinary story of a multi-million pound business that spawned a middle-class motorway game. Of dynastic struggles that ended in a merchandising shop opposite Carlisle cathedral. A quintessentially British tale – written by the inimitable bestselling writer Hunter Davies, and with the full support of Eddie Stobart himself.
Power and Glory: Jacobean England and the Making of the King James Bible (Text o
Power and Glory: Jacobean England and the Making of the King James Bible (Text o
Adam Nicolson
¥73.58
A fascinating, lively account of the making of the King James Bible. James VI of Scotland – now James I of England – came into his new kingdom in 1603. Trained almost from birth to manage rival political factions, he was determined not only to hold his throne, but to avoid the strife caused by religious groups that was bedevilling most European countries. He would hold his God-appointed position and unify his kingdom. Out of these circumstances, and involving the very people who were engaged in the bitterest controversies, a book of extraordinary grace and lasting literary appeal was created: the King James Bible. 47 scholars from Cambridge, Oxford and London translated the Bible, drawing from many previous versions, and created what many believe to be the greatest prose work ever written in English – the product of a culture in a peculiarly conflicted era. This was the England of Shakespeare, Marlowe, Jonson and Bacon; but also of extremist Puritans, the Gunpowder plot, the Plague, of slum dwellings and crushing religious confines. Quite how this astonishing translation emerges is the central question of this book. Far more than Shakespeare, this Bible helped to create and shape the language. It is the origin of many of our most familiar phrases, and the foundations of the English-speaking world. It was a generous and deliberate decision to make the Bible available to the common man: not an immediate commercial success, but which later became a bestseller, and has remained one ever since. Adam Nicolson gives a fascinating and dramatic account of the early years of the first Stewart ruler, and the scholars who laboured for seven years to create the world's greatest book; immersing us in a world of ingratiating bishops, a fascinating monarch and London at a time unlike any other.
Wings of Madness: Alberto Santos-Dumont and the Invention of Flight
Wings of Madness: Alberto Santos-Dumont and the Invention of Flight
Paul Hoffman
¥85.74
This ebook does not include illustrations. From the author of The Man Who Loved Only Numbers, winner of the prestigious Rhone-Poulenc science award: the history of aviation told through the extraordinary story of Alberto Santos-Dumont, the forgotten man who battled to be the first to free himself from the confines of the earth. Ask most people who flew the first aeroplane and you'll get the same response: Orville and Wilbur Wright. But ask a Brazilian the same question and you will get a different answer: Alberto Santos-Dumont, the man they have crowned the 'father of aviation'. Fearless Alberto Santos-Dumont was a slight and wiry man who built flying machines that could hold no one heavier than himself and required a daredevil dexterity to stay aloft. Never before or since has there been an aeroplane in which the pilot has had to stand up for the whole flight (he had to perfect the rumba in order to get his Bird of Prey into the air at all). Nor has anyone else had a personal flying machine – a small powered balloon that he kept tied to a lamp post outside his apartment when he was not bar-hopping, handing the reins of the airship to the doorman at his favourite night spot. His genius and charisma led him to be celebrated in Paris, London and New York: he dined with the Cartiers, the Rothschilds and the Roosevelts, and fast became the darling of the press. With his blithe faith in the future of technology, Santos-Dumont did not foresee the destructive power of his beloved machines. Yet his indomitable spirit was slowly crushed as competition grew and the skies became full of hazardous aircraft. With the dawn of World War I, he saw their potential for devastation and began to blame himself for every fatality. The guilt placed too great a weight on his mind, and as he became distracted from his aeronautical dream, family and friends began to fear for his sanity. On his last attempt to fly he glued feathers to his arms and tried to launch himself through a window in a sanatorium.
Nobody’s Son: All Alex ever wanted was a family of his own
Nobody’s Son: All Alex ever wanted was a family of his own
Cathy Glass
¥55.23
Born in a prison and removed from his drug-dependent mother, rejection is all that 7-year-old Alex knows. When Cathy is asked to foster little Alex, aged 7, her immediate reaction is: Why can’t he stay with his present carers for the last month? He’s already had many moves since coming into care as a toddler and he’ll only be with her a short while before he goes to live with his permanent adoptive family. But the present carers are expecting a baby and the foster mother isn’t coping, so Alex goes to live with Cathy. He settles easily and is very much looking forward to having a forever family of his own. The introductions and move to his adoptive family go well. But Alex is only with them for a week when problems begin. What happens next is both shocking and upsetting, and calls into question the whole adoption process.
An Unlikely Countess: Lily Budge and the 13th Earl of Galloway (Text Only)
An Unlikely Countess: Lily Budge and the 13th Earl of Galloway (Text Only)
Louise Carpenter
¥77.01
A vivid and moving portrait of the inimitable Lily Budge, who overcame poverty and class to become the 13th Countess of Galloway, and one of Scotland's most colourful eccentrics. Randolph Stewart was lobotomized as a teenager after a crude diagnosis of schizophrenia. When the operation went wrong, he was hidden away by his aristocratic parents in a mental institution and then taken in by a sect of monks. By the time Lily Budge met him in 1975, he appeared a shy and lonely tramp. In reality he was the future Earl of Galloway, heir to a fortune and a title considered to be linchpin of the Scottish establishment. Lily, an extroverted character from a working-class family, would join him in a powerful bond of love that challenged conventions, made national headlines, and led to enormous heartache. A vibrant portrait of 20th-century Scotland, 'An Unlikely Countess' is also a profile of two unforgettable characters, and the doomed love that they shared.
Hell Bent for Leather: Confessions of a Heavy Metal Addict
Hell Bent for Leather: Confessions of a Heavy Metal Addict
Seb Hunter
¥68.57
A witty and self-deprecating memoir about headbanging your way through growing up. Seb Hunter was a Heavy Metal fan and he's not proud. This is the story of his misguided 15-year Heavy Metal mission: from the first guitar (his dad's), to the first gig (conquering Winchester with his riffs), on through groupies and girlfriends and too many drugs to a faltering career in London, where outrageous egos, artistic differences and the dreaded arrival of Grunge (and a much needed haircut) kill the Heavy Metal dream. Along the way Seb imparts the important distinctions between Thrash Metal and Glam and casts his connoisseur’s eye over the Metal guitar. You’ll learn when to play a drum solo, the correct way to wear Spandex and exactly what to do when you're in the middle of a field at the Donington Festival and you desperately need a piss. Affectionate, irreverent, and very funny, Hell Bent For Leather is a moving story about growing up, of playing air guitar in your bedroom, of living with parental disapproval and of struggling with the laughter of your friends. It is a memoir about the glorious adolescent obsessions everybody has but no-one will admit to. Featuring music from: AC/DC, Iron Maiden, Led Zeppelin, Judas Priest, Black Sabbath, Slayer, Kiss, W.A.S.P., Aerosmith The Scorpians and Guns ‘n’ Roses.
Double Bill (Text Only)
Double Bill (Text Only)
Bill Cotton
¥61.51
Packed with anecdotes, sparkling insights into the changing nature of show business and the turbulent world of the BBC, and boasting a glittering cast-list, Double Bill is a fascinating read, unashamedly nostalgic and often hilarious. Double Bill is the revealing story of the legendary band leader, Billy Cotton and his namesake son, Bill Cotton Jnr who became Managing Director of BBC Television. One, a star performer who for decades was a national institution, the other, a talent spotter, TV producer and impresario who introduced to television many of Britain’s biggest stars and best loved shows. In his hugely entertaining autobiography, Bill Cotton not only looks back on these golden years, but on the loving relationship with another Bill – his father, the enormously popular and much loved band leader Billy Cotton. For it was during his childhood that Bill Jnr first experienced the thrill of showbiz, and encountered, in the heyday of variety, such stars as Will Hay, Max Miller, Tommy Trinder and Laurel and Hardy. And it was the charismatic Bill Sr who introduced his son to Tin Pan Alley and the music business, starting him out on a career that would later see him producing hit TV shows Six Five Special and Juke Box Jury and creating Top of the Pops. A high point of his producing career was being responsible for the Billy Cotton Band Show, he even took over the band for theatrical appearances when his father fell ill – despite not being able to read a note of music.
Livingstone’s Tribe: A Journey From Zanzibar to the Cape
Livingstone’s Tribe: A Journey From Zanzibar to the Cape
Stephen Taylor
¥65.24
An extraordinary, passionate and personal journey into Africa’s past. ‘The most enthralling account out of Africa for years.’ Daily Mail. ‘“Livingstone’s Tribe” is excellent…Taylor is an intelligent and stimulating companion.’ Financial Times ‘At the book’s heart is a riveting examination of Livingstone’s tribe…the whites of post-independence Africa.’ Independent on Sunday ‘Taylor’s expedition into the interior of the continent’s colonial past has got everything that such a book should have.’ Guardian ‘Stephen Taylor, a third-generation émigré of British descent, finds a melancholy collection of white misfits and failures…as well as a heroic, dwindling clutch of missionaries still holding the line. The catalogue of theft, corruption, murder and superstition that Taylor chronicles makes appalling, fascinating reading. Yet Taylor is no Colonel Blimp, rather an anti-apartheid liberal who fled the old South Africa and welcomed independence for Mugabe’s Zimbabwe.’ Daily Mail ‘Sights and travel experiences are vividly described and people both from Livingstone’s and from the other tribes are handled particularly well.’ Sunday Times
Literary Taste: How to Form It
Literary Taste: How to Form It
Arnold Bennett
¥8.09
Dodo Collections brings you another classic from Arnold Bennett, ‘"Literary Taste: How to Form It".’ ? Literary Taste, which has a sub-title "how to form it, with detailed instructions for collecting a complete library of English Literarure", came into that category, and was a very successful publication. More than 100 years after it first appeared (in 1909) it will seem rather quaint, but there is much of value in it, and, bearing in mind that much good and great literary work has been produced in modern times, it is still worth a study. Remember it is a book that pointed the way for the generation of our grandfathers and great-grandfathers! ? Enoch Arnold Bennett (always known as Arnold Bennett) was one of the most remarkable literary figures of his time, a product of the English Potteries that he made famous as the Five Towns. Yet he could hardly wait to escape his home town, and he did so by the sheer force of his ambition to succeed as an author. In his time he turned his hand to every kind of writing, but he will be remembered for such novels as The Old Wives' Tale, the Clayhanger trilogy (Clayhanger, Hilda Lessways, and These Twain), and The Card. He also wrote such intriguing self-improvement books as Literary Taste, How To Live on 24 Hours a Day, The Human Machine, etc. ? After a local education Bennett finished his education at the University of London and for a time was editor of Woman magazine. After 1900 he devoted himself entirely to writing; dramatic criticism was one of his foremost interests. Bennett is best known, however, for his novels, several of which were written during his residence in France. ? Bennett's infancy was spent in genteel poverty, which gave way to prosperity as his father succeeded as a solicitor. From this provincial background he became a novelist. ? His enduring fame is as a Chronicler of the Potteries towns, the setting and inspiration of some of his most famous and enduring literary work and the place where he grew up.
Viy: English and Russian Language Edition
Viy: English and Russian Language Edition
Nikolai Gogol
¥40.79
A young priest is preparing to spend three nights alone with the corpse of a dead witch and only his faith to protect him. He is ordered to supervise the waking of the dead witch in a small old wooden church of a remote village. Join the priest on his journey in this Sovereign Classic edition of Viy.